LOS ANGELES, July 28, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight today announced that it had filed suit against baby products brand Munchkin, Inc. and its parent WHY Brands, Inc. on behalf of the company’s former General Counsel, Joseph Berkowitz. The lawsuit, filed in L.A. Superior Court, alleges Mr. Berkowitz repeatedly attempted to sound the alarm about complaints of discrimination made by the company’s working mothers against the company’s Chief Brand Officer. In response, Mr. Berkowitz claims that the company terminated his employment.
The Complaint notes that Mr. Berkowitz arrived at the company in late 2023 to find an environment riddled with “discrimination, cruelty, and retaliation,” with the lion’s share of that hostility directed towards the company’s working mothers. Mr. Berkowitz claims that he sought to right the ship but soon ran headlong into the company’s Chief Brand Officer Diana Barnes or “DB.” Barnes declared to Berkowitz that moms “can’t have it all” and attributed her own success to not having children, according to the Complaint. Mr. Berkowitz alleges that Ms. Barnes complained about employees’ taking time to pump breastmilk, employees’ LinkedIn posts showing support for longer maternity leave, and the allegedly poor performance of women employees once they became mothers.
The Complaint asserts that this hostility came to a head on the company’s Bring Your Kid to Work Day, July 17, 2024. That day, the company’s Chief Brand Officer (CBO) reprimanded two mothers in front of their children and then demanded that the mothers be fired, the Complaint details. Mr. Berkowtiz tried to intercede and counseled against firing the mothers. But the company’s top brass, including CBO Barnes and CEO Steve Dunn, insisted that the terminations be carried out, according to the Complaint. Mr. Berkowitz then urged that the company investigate the allegations of discrimination, as required by law. But CEO Dunn blocked the investigation, with CBO Barnes calling the employees who complained about her “crazy,” “cowards,” and “backstabbers,” the Complaint pleads.
“A general counsel’s role is to take complaints of discrimination against mothers seriously, to investigate them, and to ensure appropriate remedial action,” said Russell Kornblith, counsel for Mr. Berkowitz and Partner and General Counsel of Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight. “Our Complaint details that Mr. Berkowitz sought to do just this. But, we allege, rather than live up to its claimed commitment to families, Munchkin terminated his employment.”
The Complaint notes that Munchkin did not investigate the complaints made by the employee-mothers against the company or CBO Barnes, but instead engaged outside lawyers to launch a pretextual investigation into Mr. Berkowitz. This investigation, conducted by the law firm Paul Hastings, seems to have been predetermined to concoct a pretext for Mr. Berkowitz’s termination, according to the Complaint. In September 2024, the company terminated Mr. Berkowitz’s employment.
The Complaint notes that the discriminatory and retaliatory conduct that Mr. Berkowitz sought to stop was apparently widespread at the company. It cites a litany of posts on the website Glassdoor, including the following:
- “Run away! Do not work here! . . . I brought my kids to bring your kids to work day and the CBO literally yelled at me and mistreated me in front of my 4yr old for bringing my kids to work for the event. . . . I watched her wrongfully terminate a co-worker for bringing her daughter to work[,] after that I left. I reported her [but] unfortunately she is still there.”
- “The amount of harassment I’ve seen on the basis of sex/gender, age, and parental status is insane – and committed largely by the female member/s of the E team. Everyone is constantly afraid, and they know that reporting to HR will only result in retaliation – more unlawful behavior. I have seen coworkers wrongfully let go after voicing opinions or reporting harassment by leadership to HR – it goes straight back to the people responsible.”
- “The CBO is a pathological liar and clinical narcissist. I have witnessed her bully and harass fellow executives, her own employees, and the CEO himself. Why has she not been fired for creating a hostile work environment? Her relationship and interactions with the CEO are inappropriate – some in the office would call it ‘intimate.’ Their very close relationship is an open secret within the organization, which I found within my first 3 weeks of starting.”
“Mothers should not face discrimination in the workplace for being mothers,” said Susannah R. Cohen, an associate at Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight and counsel for Mr. Berkowitz. “Women should come to work knowing that they will be valued and judged on the merits of their contributions.”
Mr. Berkowitz is represented by a Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight team led by Partner and General Counsel Russell Kornblith and Associate Susannah R. Cohen. Mr. Berkowitz’s lawsuit seeks more than $10 million in damages. The Complaint asserts claims of discrimination and retaliation culminating in unlawful discharge in violation of the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, California Labor Code § 1102.5, and California public policy.
About Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight, LLP
Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight is a public interest and civil rights law firm with offices in New York, Washington, DC, San Francisco, Palo Alto, Nashville, and San Diego. The firm focuses on executive representation, wrongful termination, employment discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliation, wage theft and overtime violations, whistleblower and qui tam, sexual violence, Title IX violations and victims’ rights, financial mismanagement and ERISA litigation, and Asian American litigation and finance matters. Our lawyers have recovered over $5 billion for our clients through many verdicts and settlements.
In 2024, Forbes named Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight Chairman and Co-Founder David Sanford to its inaugural list of America’s Top 200 Lawyers. The National Law Journal has selected Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight as Civil Rights Firm of the Year, and it has recognized the firm as both Employment Rights Firm of the Year and Human Rights Firm of the Year. Benchmark Litigation has named the firm Labor & Employment Firm of the Year, and Law360 has recognized the firm as Employment Practice Group of the Year.
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